Poor Widow
"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother
and be united to his wife, and the two will become one
flesh. This is a profound mystery -- but I
am talking about Christ and the church." Eph. 5:31-32
Our Lutheran School here at Holy Trinity in Bowling Green,
KY gave their February monthly chapel offerings to the Mid-
South District's Hearts for Jesus Project called "Care of
Widow: Cows for Kids". This program supports widows in
India and their children by purchasing cows for them at
$200.00 each. These cows become a major source of income
and livelihood for these widows. You see, in their
culture, once a woman becomes a widow she is considered
bad luck. She is not allowed to go out in public, hold
down a job, or for the most part be seen. It is believed
that misfortune will befall those who see a widow first
thing in the morning.
Once a widow, the woman is dressed and adorned in all of
her wedding apparel as on the very day of her wedding.
Her hair is fixed beautifully, her makeup is put on,
jewels adorn her, and she is dressed in her wedding
garments. Then she is taken out into the public and
stripped of her beauty of the wedding day. Each piece is
removed as a statement to the community that she has
somehow brought about tragedy upon her family at the death
of her husband. After the public embarrassment, she is
left with nothing and must figure out how to care for
herself and her children with almost no outside support.
Ephesians 5 tells us that the relationship between a
husband and a wife is paralleled with the relationship
between Christ and the church. What if Christ treated us
as a widow in India? What if when we died to sin and
separated ourselves from God, we were then publicly
embarrassed and made to be the bad luck of creation. What
if we were stripped of the beauty given to us at creation,
and considered the "unglorified" of all creation?
Instead of stripping us of our beauty, Christ adorned us
with the precious jewels of his life and let us put a
crown of thorns on his head. He clothed us in his
righteousness and allowed us to strip him, beat him, slap
him, mock him, spit on him, and call him names. He
covered us over in the pure white of his redemption, and
allowed us to cover him in his own blood; the very blood
that he offers to us in the sacrament of the altar; the
very blood that allows us to be seen in our beauty and
glory as His beloved bride.
William Hiskey
Updated: 2/25/2003
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